Monthly Archives: January 2015

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You are invited to join the Downieville School art students in an
“Homage to Art” Exhibition

For more information about this exhibition, join Art Instructor, Katie O’Hara-Kelly for a short presentation, view the school’s art “collection”, pick up an entry form, and enjoy some refreshments onWednesday, February 4th5:30 – 6:00 pm – Downieville School

It’s been a quiet dry week, not at all like January’s of old. The northeast of the USA is getting more than it’s share of wintry weather while we linger in Juneuary and the word “scary” is used more and more when talking weather here.

It is winter and often this is the time cabin fever creates tension and tempers flare over trivial matters. Our local post offices are the center of local communication and are going through many changes. New rules, shortened hours, new employees, frustration for both the customers and the people working in a tough situation. The best way to deal with changes that are hard to swallow is to maintain civility, politeness, understanding and compassion from both sides of the counter whether it be in a grocery store, business or the post office. Be nice no matter what, often you get what you expect, expect the best. If someone if having a tough day… we all know how that feels… be a little compassionate and empathetic.

I really like what guest columnist Laura Finley has to say this week about free speech and religion. What does it serve to be mean? Bullying is bullying no matter by who or why it takes place. Take a step back and think about whether what you say, do, print or write has any real purpose. Thinking is a good thing. I also like what Lawrence Wittner and John LaForge write this week… more thinking. Here’s something to think about from Writer Mark Strand – “Each moment is a place you’ve never been.”

So read Gabby, the Fringe talks water sense, the Cats, the Others, local news and events and have a great week.

Yes indeed the Mountain Messenger has words, lots of them. People get the Mountain Messenger in the mail or else if they are lucky they live somewhere there are paper boxes where you put in two quarters and get a piece of history. When I read the 100 or 50 Years Ago section I think about one hundred years down the road someone will be reading this edition. Be part of history, become a subscriber. Write a letter to the Editor (he’s more likely to print it if you insult him) and then you will forever be immortalized in print in the Messenger and in the records at the California State Library. Don Russell, the present day Editor, is busy now thinking about what the ingredients will be for his Chili at the Yuba Pass Chili Cookoff on Saturday, March 7th. So it is even more difficult to speak with him than usual. In spite of his rule of never looking him in the eye on Wednesdays, if you are a Chili Judge he will waive that requirement and may actually take you to his church, St Charles. Milly is not allowed to enter the contest as she is known as a mediocre cook, much better than Don so a threat to the winning trophy.

1/28/15 Maybe I’ll add some raccoon this year.. I wonder if the squirrel in the freezer is old enough yet…. the alcohol will kill the bad stuff.. why does everyone like Milly more than me….

Send anything you need published to Milly Snow, the most important person in the office, at yesdearyousuck@yahoo.com or you may call directly to 530 289-3262 and talk to Don, (and suggest he give a raise to Milly). For a subscription: send in as below or call 530 289-3262 with credit card in hand.. Tell Don, mtnmess@cwo.com you subscribed because you read about it on Sierra County Prospect…..

Harold Eugene Gudgel was born on August 12, 1940 in Athens, Illinois, and left us on January 2, 2015.
Shortly after high school Harold joined the Army, and then moved to San Jose. Harold owned and operated a small gas station for a few years, then worked at various maintenance jobs until working at Macy’s for 26 years. He then moved to Reno and worked for Circus Circus for 16 years; from which he retired in 2013 to stay at home and catch up on bugging his wife.

Dogs and children were attracted to him. He always had a box of fix-all in the garage due to his sudden burst of energy and wanting to tear down walls and remodel the house at a moment’s notice. He grew enough vegetables in his gardens to feed another country and his roses were picture perfect and the envy of town. He loved his family and friends completely, without reserve, and enjoyed spending time visiting family in Downieville. He always brought his wife presents and flowers. He took his kids to race go carts and along on his never ending trips to the hardware store. He would ride on a roller coaster or a horse, if his kids wanted him to. Harold was always pleased to chat about his working days and possessed a splendid memory of those critical times when gas prices and wages were so very low. He was a kind hearted man, and kind to everyone. He was just this profoundly decent man that will be greatly missed and loved forever.

Harold leaves behind his wife of 37 years, Darla Gudgel; his children Dawn, Shelly (Fischer), Robert, Daniel, and Peter. Grandchildren BJ, James, Jesse, Annie, Daniel, April, Max, Sarah, Alex, Hannah, and Jenna. His great-grandchildren Adrian, Paris, Jessilynn, Emma, Elizabeth, Tate, and Cash. He is survived by two brothers, John and Richard of Illinois.

California Water: GRAP for the Northern Ranchers
Caustic analysis from the Fringe
by DeVita

Water is literally life’s blood. It’s a miraculous substance, a solvent, a transporter, a structural component. Plants need it; we need plants. All life needs water; even cities need water to live.

Your Fringe Editor has been worrying in print about water issues since Moses was in short pants. I grew up with cultural knowledge about the Owens Valley, and had first hand knowledge of how cities buy and steal water.

The issue is, of course complicated. Imagine your are Mr. or Ms. California Legislator, intent on providing sufficient resources to your inhabitants, hopefully making some millionaires along the way. You are blessed with international ports, world class universities, tax generating cities and agricultural land that is the envy of the world. Problem is, the water is needed down here where the wealth and people and votes are, but it’s way up North. Gravity is a big help, since the water tends to want to run down to the Sacramento Delta. There are, though a few problems.

The area in the North where the water falls is inhabited mostly by deer and bunnies and some stinky cows and a few people. A very few. About 2 million of the 38 or so million in the state. Most are buck toothed, cousin humpin’, six toed hillbillies, but a few are “edjacated” with degrees from “Cow Poly”. That handful of people wouldn’t pose much of a problem, but there is a third player, the Environmental Lobby.

As important as water is, there are laws in most states which control it from the state level. California, though, was founded by people dubious of government and firm in the belief that God loves those who take care of their own. As a result, it hasn’t been as easy for California as it has for some states to lay down a uniform water law. Property and water rights advocates have done well against transgression, except for two things. First, when water rights were applied, either by tradition or by judge’s decree, there was a lot more water; it was a wet time for the state. 2. Even at that, more water rights were given out than there was water; a problem which is keenly felt during this drought. California has been tightening the noose on water rights holders, by increasing ground water control, discussed in a recent Fringe editorial, and surface water.

One tool they are using to regulate the amount of water is to regulate the quality of water. Federal law, the Clean Water Act, provides a foundation (and a mandate) for the state to control water quality. The state itself has a “non point source” agency regulating things like meadow use. In doing so, it can also increase the amount of useable water which gets to the cash generating hos of cities and big ag. But, it has to do so while pleasing the environmentalists.

Environmentalists have no friends but themselves, but they are useful for both sides of the issue, for the rural people in the North who watch millions of dollars of water slip across their land without leaving enough income for locals to benefit, and for the state and the water companies, just as it presents problems for both. The environmental purist wants no people at all on the land, except for purist environmentalists who would go there often to be sure no one else was there.

It’s easy to see how environmentalists hamper getting water to the cities and big ag; a law suit against users of the Sacramento Delta threatens to put endangered fish in the Yuba because water companies have to replace water taken farther down stream and since salmon were negatively impacted by the water withdrawal, they have to stock similar salmon somewhere else to make up for it. The twisting, meandering flow of the Feather and the Yuba are straight as strings compared to the wirepile water use has become. So, environmentalists hamper water users because they hold them accountable for damage to the downstream watershed. But, they also help because they can force rural water users to keep the water clean enough to drink. Anything done up stream can impact the amount of water going down stream. Watershed restoration tend to improve the quality of water following gravity to the bank accounts of business and government.

It isn’t easy to see how environmentalists help rural people; it’s far easier to see how they hurt us. Instead of suing cities for being gas belching, plastic dumping, water wasting monsters, environmentalists want to sue us for building a house on our property, or building a deck on the river side of the house. They sue the state and the Forest Service to force them to outlaw nearly everything we do, from dredging for a little gold to powering our sleds over the snow. We should hate them and many of us do, but they also provide a benefit which we can’t under value: they keep the mountains and waters they way they are. It’s possible that if the environmentalists weren’t trying to drive us from the mountains the capitalists would have gentrified the woods and our sons would deal 21 and our daughter would hook. We have few friends in this struggle; we use help when we can get it. We would like more jobs, but we wouldn’t like to see our mountains become “Tahoe”.

So, from pressure from the feds to keep water clean, and environmentalists to keep it in the creeks, and thirsty millions wanting water for pools and waterparks and golf courses, we struggle to live with the water that, a generation ago, was considered a blessing for the meadows and creeks it creates. Back then, being first on the teat, as it were, the water was ours to use. Even then, though, people were willing to burn powder or hire lawyers over water, because if you don’t have water, you got nothing.

Cities have a lot of water, but they poop in it and so on. Instead of being self-reliant on water, they furtively try to reduce use, but cities can’t live without growing, so net use is hard to control.

Cities do reuse some of their water, and “dual plumbing codes” exist which can allow or require new large buildings and other large development to have a “dual plumbing” process, reusing water to flush toilets or water lawns. Below is a graphic from water.ca.gov which explains, ideally, how recycling might work. Reclaimed and “treated” water is being used to “recharge” ground water sources in some areas, meaning the formerly polluted water is injected in to the ground to recharge the aquifers. The state water bond the cities just passed provided for increase recycling, but so far, cities and large Central Valley ag don’t use our water efficiently.

Looking at the graphic above, we see how the world looks to a water recycling planner. Where are our beautiful mountains, our gushing streams? The two little brown hills is us. In the true scheme of things water in California, we don’t really deserve even that slight mention.

Where we do get proper mention and more is in the idea of water purity, and “non-point source” pollution. These are concepts most ranchers in the area already know. There have been, and are continuing, efforts to measure local meadow water for key “impairment factors” and some have already agreed to use fencing to keep cattle from stream sides. Those issues are becoming more important, though, as the state implements GRAP, the “Grazing Regulatory Action Plan”.

“To date, the Water Boards have chosen to regulate livestock grazing through Water Board orders, grazing waivers, Water Quality Control Plan (Basin Plan) prohibitions, developing TMDLs and taking enforcement actions. These approaches have varied in their application and effectiveness, and have resulted in inconsistencies statewide. The Statewide Grazing RegulatoryAction Project (GRAP) is one of several collaborative efforts established by the Water Boards directing staff to work with interested stakeholders on ways to more efficiently and consistently address impaired waters.”
http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/nps/docs/grap_factsheet.pdf

Surface water users in the mountains have already felt the cold hand of the state. In some watersheds, the CADFW has placed gated outlets on some agricultural withdrawals. These are typically smaller than the “eyeballed” gates they replace. They are also “smart” in that they can shut the water off if flow conditions warrant, in their opinion. These technological advancements benefit downstream users, and they probably do benefit stream and river health, but they are another cut in the death of a thousand cuts many rural ag families suffer.

How dirty is our water? The state has surpassed the Federal CWA 303(d) requirements, and while the feds don’t list our local waters on their “impaired waters” website, the Water Board does, indicating that the Yuba has mercury, and the Feather River as it runs from the Sierra Valley to Lake Oroville has Unknown Toxicity. Read about it here: http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/tmdl/2010state_ir_reports/01177.shtml#12955

Regardless that the waters aren’t obviously polluted, what the local grazers in the Sierra, Indian, Mohawk and other valleys have to worry most about are 1. Dissolved Oxygen; 2. temperature; 3. Coliforms; 4 Nitrogen.

Cattle, like many other animals, poop in the water when they drink or cross. It’s nature’s way of who knows what, but many mammals do it, and fish, of course, can’t do much else. Calves spread E. Coli, a potential, but not affirmed, problem, since there are millions of E. Coli in your gut right now, producing vitamin K for you, and keeping worse creatures at bay. Even so, the standard considers that a flaw. Likewise, too much nitrogen. Nitrogen is essential for good plant growth, but in water it encourages algae blooms, which can deprive the water of oxygen. Temperature might come from cows broadening the creek by breaking down banks, and munching bushes and small trees which shade the creek, for example.

What’s in the impaired waters of the South? Lindane, hydrocarbons, pharmaceuticals, solvents, heavy metals, and host of really dangerous junk. I’ll have a nice hot cup of calf crap over a cup of chemical sludge anytime, maybe the state should focus all it’s effort on the real pollution in the state, but, never mind comparisons of that nature, we guess.

Indeed, considering grazing livestock to be “non-point source pollution” might be over reaching entirely; some feel the federal law does not empower the state to make such decisions.

There are already “tools” the state has to asses, monitor, and penalize, if necessary, grazers.

The project intends to bring key players on board, and to try to arrive at reasonable solutions, “reasonable” being the value up for debate. The project includes sessions with invited representatives of Environmental, Grazing and industry, Government and Academics. The session includes “Listen” events, which, I’ll bet, means “you better listen”. The hope is, using science, official belief, and good citizenship grazers will accept and follow the law about non-point source “impairment”.

The hope might be validated. In speaking with Holly George, the UC Extension office County Director, Livestock and Natural Resources Farm Advisor, there is good reason to believe that, at least at the current time, there are no waters in the area in jeopardy of being “impaired”. She states that most grazers in the area are good stewards, and already take care of the grassy meadows and clear streams that are a major resource to them. Maybe the news won’t be all gray.

In addition, the GRAP anticipates benefits from grazing, which is a leap forward from “water quality” perspectives of just a few years ago. Are animals of benefit to the watershed? Most wetlands, meadows and stream sides benefit a number of ways from grazing animals. They keep trees from encroaching, fertilize as they go and break up hard soil, increasing the range of meadows. They can also reduce weeds. http://www.californiagrazing.com/

Even so, I doubt the net benefit from this sniffing of our waters is going to be positive for local ranchers and grazers. If nothing else, it might discourage landowners who lease grazing to farmers, since the withering eye of the state might be on their properties, something no landowner should want. I fear that this is just another in a series of blows, some large and inevitable, like drought, some small and blood sucking, like over regulation and added costs, which further weaken the already languishing Sierra rancher. One more nudge for a way of life, and a good and decent people, to disappear from California. Prove me wrong.

You ever notice how, sometimes when you stand up, you feel a little dizzy? Or how when you have a cold, your nose seems to become a dumping ground for corn syrup? Do you ever get pressure headaches that you feel in your cheeks, behind your eyes, between your eyes? Well, all of these come from the same thing: your sinuses.
But what do you know about your sinuses? You know that they’re empty spaces in your head, other than your brain-pan. You know people talk about it in relation to a plugged nose, or a sinus headache. But what is a sinus? And what does it do?

Quite simply, it’s a collection of holes in your head, which hold pressure and mucus. There are four sinuses: The Sphenoidal sinus, is located behind your eyes. Then there’s the Frontal sinus, the second largest of the sinuses, located in your forehead, above your eyes.
Next we have the largest sinus in your head; the Maxiliary sinus. Nearly a cubic inch, these sinuses are located behind your cheek bones. The smallest sinuses are the Ethnoid sinuses, tiny pockets of air in the ethnoid bone, in the bridge of your nose, between your eyes.
So when mucus and pressure gets trapped in the sinuses, it makes your eyes feel like they’re about to pop out of your head, and dangle from your optic nerves.
Savor the image, and move on.

What is the sinus for? Nobody is entirely certain. According to some hypotheses, they’re used to humidify and heat the air we breath. Some people think it’s to amplify our voices. Some say they are a “crush zone”, to absorb the frequent facial blows that our ancestors experienced.
I think that it’s to regulate pressure in your head.
But we know it’s a real drag when they get plugged or infected.

What’s inside the sinuses?
Pink membranes, and a thin layer of mucus. When you have allergies or a head cold, the mucus gets much, much thicker, and it drains into the openings and canals between the different sinuses, and the nasal canal.

What do you do if you’re all plugged up?
If you have serious allergies, or a sinus infection, get professional medical help.
But short of that, for a cold you can:
Drink plenty of herbal tea. The steam will help loosen up the goop, and it’s tasty. Many herbs also have healing properties, but again, if you’re really, really sick, go see a doctor.
You could also use nose spray or a neti pot. When using a neti pot, use only clean water, otherwise you could get an even worse infection.
Both nose spray and a neti pot will have instructions. They use fluid to moisturize and move the excess mucus, to clear your sinuses and make it easier to breath. What goes in, must come out, so it’s likely the mucus will come racing out your nostrils, so do this over a sink. Or a tarp, if there’s been a lot of pollen.

Finally, yes, I’m writing this because my sinuses are plugged with the waste from the most recent battle with a cold.
On the plus side, I won.

Hello readers. This has been an awesome week in Ms.Schofield’s class! They have just finished a unit on the moon. They learned all about the moon and the planets surrounding it. But that’s not even the most exciting part; they are now going to learn about folk tales and fairy tales. How lucky are they! They are going to be using their new Chrome books a lot this month. Ms.Schofield’s class is using the IXL app for math and the Lexia app for reading. That’s all the excitement in her class this week.

Ms.Maire’s class is very historical, meaning they’re learning about the Revolution. They will take a spring field trip to Sacramento and spend the night in a mansion built in 1885 by Lewelly Williams, a Gold Rush millionaire. The mansion is known as “America’s most unique hostel.” They will stay 1 night and enjoy a few additional side trips such as Sutter’s Fort, the Indian Museum, Railroad Museum and the Capitol. That will be a great trip and from what I could tell the whole class is very enthused about going. Ms.Maire’s class will ALSO be getting two turtles for class pets! That class has so much going on this month.

Now to the high school news. Mr. Tassone’s Physical Science students are now starting a unit in chemistry, and his Biology class is starting a unit in cell biology. The high school will also be raising trout again this year. I am personally extremely excited about that!

The high school basketball game on the 6th of January against Elk Creek was a great game. Although we lost 39-47, our team got 43 rebounds, 7 blocks, and 12 steals. Another game took place on the 8th of January, against American Christian Academy. The score was 7-24 but we did get 24 rebounds. We had a very exciting game on the 13th of January that was almost a foul-less game against Paradise Adventist. Ramon Nevarez got MVP for an away game on January 16th against Core Butte. We lost 29-50, but played an outstanding game! The high school team also played a game on the 20th against Westwood.

The elementary/junior high boys’ team played a home game in our local Downieville High School gymnasium on the 24th of January. They did spectacularly! The score was 19-27 against Greenville. The elementary/junior high girls’ basketball game was great as well. We played Portola and barely lost, 21-27. Another boys’ game followed right after ours and they played Portola as well. Their score was 9-54.

Mrs.Fillo brought some students to a play in Marysville. The play, “Anne of Green Gables,” was a great play; the actors where amazing! Prior to the play we went to the mall, did a little shopping, and ate dinner. After the play we headed home with a short stop at Starbucks. And that’s all our news for this week.

Announcements:

Friday the 30th is a minimum day.

CSF flower forms are due Thursday the 29th. If you would like to purchase Valentine’s Day flowers for a loved one, you can pick up a form at the Hardware Store or call the school, 289-3473. The flowers will be delivered on Friday, February 13th.

The 2015 Lions Club Student Speaker Contest was held Monday evening, January 26th, at Downieville High School With Lion President Mary Ervin presiding and Supervisor Lee Adams as Master of Ceromonies. Six students, Tommy Dines, Matt Lozano, Kaylon Hall, Karlee Bollee and Antonio Nevarez, and Megan Parker ranging from grades nine through twelve tackled this year’s timely topic, “Water Conservation – How Can We Reduce, Recycle and Reclaim?” with enthusiasm.

Everyone enjoyed the event and congratulated Tommy Dines on his win and advancement to the next level of the International Lions Speech Contest. He will move on to the Sierra Zone Student Speakers Contest on March 7th in Nevada City.
The camaraderie and support that the students at Downieville High give to each other is heartwarming. Antonio Nevarez, Megan Parker, Matt Lozano; Karlee Bolle; and Kaylon Hall…all did a great job…and were mightily supported in the audience by their friends and families.

Judges had their task set before them as they evaluated not only the text of each speech, but also each speaker’s delivery, effectiveness, and overall effort. The students offered ideas about how we can all reduce our water consumption and they supported their suggestions with statistics indicating gallons saved – something we all need to be aware of as we head into another draught year. If the audience did not know how grey water is recycled, they learned about that Monday evening along with many other important facts. Once again, educator, Lynn Fillo, did her part in encouraging the students to investigate this important subject. Members of the Downieville Lions Club appreciate the effort put forth by the participating students and the support of parents and community members who attended this year’s contest.

I know this piece comes in the midst of great trauma and global challenges that are deeply emotionally charged. But I see great value in offering another perspective on the Charlie Hebdo publications and subsequent attack, as I feel as though to date the conversation has been entirely binary. Either you are for free speech and support Charlie Hebdo or you are, in the U.S and the Western world, for terrorism. That is a false binary, and one that I believe contributes to the problem. I think there is a vast place between the two that can help us move toward a more peaceful coexistence with people who value freedom of speech and those who care deeply about freedom of religion. Although I do not agree 100 percent with what Pope Francis said about the issue, I do think his perspective has a lot to offer.

I agree that verbal provocation is no excuse for violence, as the Pope clearly said. But I also see how some like Polly Toynbee in The Guardian can argue that the Pope’s comments were akin to a “wife beater defence.” However, another way of looking at the issue is that the folks at Charlie Hebdo are little more than bullies. It is obvious that continual harassment about an issue on which people are terrifically sensitive will not be well-received. In this case, the victims of the harassment are billions of people—it is all those who follow Islam’s dictates that it is blasphemy to denigrate Allah or the Prophet Muhammad. This is what the Pope said…not that violence is justified, just that it shouldn’t surprise us, either, as it was intended to incite and disrupt.

I am not saying we should never critique unfair policies or practices. In fact, we probably need to do even more of that without suffering repercussions, as is Saudi Arabian blogger Raif Bedawi, who has been lashed for his secular commentary. Satire and political cartoons can be an incredibly useful tool for raising awareness about various atrocities. But I have a hard time seeing how provocative images of who an estimated two billion people believe is their savior does anything to question policies, to shine a light on injustices, or to move the world in a better direction. Poke fun at dictators? OK. Of politicians who make promises then repeatedly renege? OK. At pompous messengers of “religious doctrine” who themselves violate the very tenets they profess? OK. But of the actual deities, I feel less confident. For instance, while I see the merit in satirizing the priests who allowed decades of abuse to be swept under the rug or the alleged followers of Islam who terrorize children in the name of their religion, I have a harder time seeing anything but bullying when it comes to attacking Jesus, God, Allah, Buddha, or other deities themselves. In the U.S, we pass laws prohibiting bullying. We train educators about it so that they can disrupt the behavior. The White House has weighed in on the issue and issued reprimands to schools and universities who fail to disrupt bullying behavior. Yet here, when journalists pick and poke at the most holiest of holies, they couch their behavior in “rights language.”

At least in the United States, journalistic enterprises have the “right” to poke fun at religious leaders and doctrine in the name of free speech. But I think what the Pope means is that perhaps we shouldn’t be looking at this as a rights issue at all. Perhaps it is, quite simply, mean to do what Charlie Hebdo repeatedly does and that, instead of an even greater divide between adherents to Islam and those who defend free speech, we should be looking for ways in which people can come together. Many scholars have argued that “rights talk” limits the dialogue or simply results in opposing sides trenching deeper into their positions. Harvard Law Professor and author of Rights Talk: The Impoverishment of Political Discourse Mary Ann Glendon argues that “A penchant for absolute formulations (“I have the right to do whatever I want with my property”) promotes unrealistic expectations and ignores both social costs and the rights of others.”

So, what next? I’d like to see an international dialogue that addresses the complexities of the issue, not just the surface opposition of freedom of speech versus freedom of religion. I’d like us to move to a place where we understand that, while we technically have the right to say or write something, we should exercise better judgment unless we can truly support the fact that our efforts will result in something better. I remain hopeful that others will view the issue similarly. I remain hopeful that, rather than dig deeper into their defenses, the many people with diverse perspectives on this issue will choose to consider another option.

Laura Finley, Ph.D., teaches in the Barry University Department of Sociology & Criminology and is syndicated by PeaceVoice.

It’s time to eat. Yep, it’s all about the food. Mark your calendars’. February 7th, Saturday, Graeagle California. Coyote Grill!

One of our “designated food officers” have reported back with information that Coyote Grill is serving Prime Rib on Friday and Saturday.

You know the drill. Van ride from Downieville leaving from the Senior Center at 3:30 pm sharp. $15 per person for the van ride. They do not have a website, so I could not find a menu. It’s prime rib, so why do you need a menu?

Thanks Barb!

RSVP me 289-3341 before February 3rd so I can call our reservations in.